Powerful

The acting in this movie is really good.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

That Thing You Do could have been a movie about me. Literally. From the one hit wonder to the father with the appliance store. Of course, I didn't end up with Liv Tyler. But that's another story entirely. "Not Fade Away" features another drummer from the same era, much like me. I guess all drummers had the same experiences? This story is a little more gritty and I think more accurately reflects what it was like to "be in a band" back then. The music/soundtrack is incredible. Watching the band progress and get better brings back a ton of memories for me. To those who never experienced this, perhaps this movie will not hit home. For those of us who lived through it, I think there will be lots of smiles and memories. Maybe not all of the memories good ones. But then again, what memory is all good? The father played by James Gandolfini is spot on. As is the conflict between his "hippie fag" son and him. Watching the characters progress from the time of the Kennedy Assassination to the onset of the English band invasion, the Stones, The Beatles, The Yardbirds, then the Rascals and new stuff that came along is all too accurate. It's also very cool to see the old instruments...Gretsch guitars (double anniversary) and drums, Fender amps and guitars, Ricks, just all the stuff all of us old rock and rollers remember. It was all new then. And it still plays today.The interaction between the musicians...who is a better singer, etc, is also spot on. And the love interest? She is one beautiful girl. Hell, she's like three beautiful girls.I suppose I like this movie because of the buttons it pushes for me. I understand that it won't do that for everybody. But for those who it does, you're going to love it.

As a fan of Mr. Chase I ached for this work to take off but it never does. The film fails primarily upon the page.It says little about the character of those heady times that were the 1960's. This failure is no easy task as rock music, suburban angst and the decade itself remain fertile with enough substance to fill 100 movies let alone 1. Where Chase fails first is in using the 60's as mere fashionable short hand. A news flash or a film clip without worthy exposition turns tempest to teapot. That the 60's and its artifacts are presented as mere fetish objects devalues that currency. It purchases clothes, cars and music rights without story ever rising above being a disposable trifle. The art direction is terrific and while accurate, it never connects actors to actions and exposition to plot. Too often anecdotes and pithy quotes substitute for genuine emotion, motivation or character. Luckily, the acting is fine. The best moments occur between James Gandolfini (the working class Dad) and John Magaro as his rock musician son.Their scenes crackled as no others did leaving the underwhelm pronounced. The female character's (clearly Mr. Chase's Achilles)are broadly drawn hysterical caricatures seemingly created mostly to advance the story of men. This was exemplified by Magaro professing to believing in a girlfriend whom we know nothing about. Equally inelegant were the fore-shadowed dramatic twists of staged fights, staged accidents and cancer as dramatic license. "Not Fade Away" was continuously so Hollywood soft that I found myself wishing that a Don Corleone type had read the script, met with David Chase and slapped his face yelling "Write like a man!"Ultimately this film seems unable to decide if it is a John Sayles' time capsule told within simple salt of the earth fables or is instead a history lesson told in the sound bites and cliff notes of genuine deep thinkers.It never chooses and it ends as it began; an exercise in excess signifying little. What a waste of a green light and 20 million dollars.

This is a movie that does not follow an exact straight line for the plot. It is not exactly sure what it is all about. In my opinion it stays fuzzy in that aspect until the end.The idea behind the movie seems to be to transport the look and feel of the time the movie takes place in. Doing so it follows the adolescent years of a boy, his family and his struggle to make it in the music world. You will find many reviews that are very much in favor of this picture. I cannot share this view, which leads me to believe it needs for the viewer to have some experience with or interest in the decade it plays in (the 60's). Being born in 70's and having no interest whatsoever in the 60's historically or for the music, the movie had nothing to offer to me. That is bad storytelling in my opinion and lead to my low vote.The plot remains fuzzy and stretched too far to make sense. I guess the acting was not too bad on some supporting roles, but i did not like the main characters too much. Seriously everything remained too shallow for me to care.If you have fond memories of the time then by all means try it. Your personal experience will probably fill in the gaps and you will have a good time. Otherwise the good reviews are all inexplicable. If you are not interested in the era then keep your distance or you *WILL* regret it!

Great movie. It's not a display of firework cinematography but rather a very humble human story. Not a Hollywood epic in the best sense of the term.I applaud David Chase for making a movie about a very difficult subject - Rock and Roll - how it changed peoples lives and gave them a dream to follow.In the 60's the British Invasion exploded across the world. White kids discovered the Blues. Bands began being formed.There are so many bands out there but only a handful of them make it. Why? Even though you may have talent, if a group cant stay on the same page it just falls down sooner of later. The movie really puts the finger on this. The band dynamics were delicious (in a painful way) to watch.I was a bit skeptical before before watching the movie because of this poor rating. Why was it so low? Because the audience, like todays Rock Bands have no roots nor any understanding of it. Rock is Dead.ROADRUNNER ROADRUNNER !